Would you look with me at the
Gospel of Matthew chapter 4 this morning, or listen carefully
as I speak to you from Matthew chapter 4, beginning with verse
13. It says, Leaving Nazareth, he,
that is the Lord Jesus Christ, came and dwelt in Capernaum.
which is upon the sea coast and the borders of Zebulun and Nathalim,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet,
saying, The land of Zebulun, the land of Nathalim, by the
way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the
people which sat in darkness saw great light. And to them
which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. And from that time, Jesus began
to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. The gospel of Matthew has been
called by some, the gospel of the kingdom. It literally says
that several times, the gospel of the kingdom. Over in verse
23, it says he was teaching in their synagogues
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. That is what this is
all about. The King, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and how he established
his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. This is the gospel of the kingdom.
Chapters 1 and 2 give the genealogy of and the birth of the king. As the wise men said, where is
he that is born king? God's king. And chapter 3 is
the first public appearance of the king. And he is declared
by the Spirit of God to be God's Son, and God Almighty spoke from
heaven. declaring his approval of his
son. In chapter 4, it begins with
the king's confrontation with the usurper, the prince of the
power of the air, the god of this world he is called. A small
god, small g. And the king of kings does battle
with this ruler here on this earth, the ruler of darkness.
And Immanuel is his name. His name is Immanuel, which being
interpreted, God with us. And he comes to deliver his people
who are captives to this usurper, this evil ruler. Now, this is not some fairy tale
or medieval knight's tale, but this is the truth. This is about
the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings. And later on in this
chapter, he comes calling his servant. Well, I just read to
you in verse 13, it says that he came and dwelt in Capernaum
and Zeppelim and Naphtalem. And this is the great king walking
through the land. He's walking through purposefully,
seeking out his subjects. He's not wandering aimlessly,
but according to the sovereign eternal purpose of God Almighty
who sent him into this world, he is walking about looking for
his subject. And I thought about this. What
great mercy and grace and condescension that the King of heaven, the
King of glory would come and dwell, not only on this earth,
but in some of these little towns. That is what the Scripture says
in Proverbs 8, that he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the
earth and his delights were with the sons of men." What great
condescension and mercy and grace that the King of glory would
come to this planet and dwell in these places. And it says
in verse 14 through 16, the people, quoting Isaiah, which sat in
darkness saw a great light. And I contend that Little old
Rocky Mount, Virginia, Franklin County, has seen great light. That God Almighty has visited
this place, this little land. People who sat in darkness, those
who were without God, without Christ, without hope, without
an interest in God, dead in trespasses and sin, yet God in mercy sent
the gospel. has revealed Himself to them,
revealed Christ, and the people which sat in darkness have seen
great light." That's what the gospel is. It is light. It enlightens
our dark hearts. And He dwells where two or three
are gathered in His name. Christ the King. And it says
He came into those parts, those towns, preaching. Verse 17 says,
Jesus began to preach. Now, what great honor and approval
God Almighty placed on this thing of preaching and the office of
a preacher by making His Son a preacher. God had one Son,
and His vocation on this earth was a preacher. He said that
to His disciples later on. He said, Let us go into the next
towns that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth. This is why I came," he said,
to preach, to declare. Preaching is declaring, publicly
declaring, a herald of the truth of God's Word. Hear ye, hear
ye, thus saith the Lord. God Almighty placed great honor
and approval on preaching and the office of a preacher by making
his son a preacher. In spite of all of the fakes
and the phonies, And all of those who bring great reproach on preaching
in the office of a preacher. Yet, the Lord Himself sanctioned
this thing of preaching, for He was a preacher. And it says
He began to preach. Well, what did He preach? Well,
the first recorded words of the Lord Jesus Christ as a man, as
an adult, thirty years old, His first message heard was this,
repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent. Repent. That has always been
the first word from God to man. Always. It was the message of
the prophets. All of the apostles preached
repent. All of the Well, the last of
the prophets was John, and his message, his first message out
of his mouth was repent, and it was his continual message.
And the Lord himself here says repent, and the apostles all
preached that, and it's still the need today for everyone,
for everyone, for saint and unbeliever alike. It's still the message.
Our Lord said to His disciples one day who thought that some
traumatic thing had happened to a group of people because
they were such great sinners. And no doubt, the judgment of
God is clearly seen. And His judgment on the sins
of men are clearly seen if men would just open their eyes. And
yet, our Lord said to His disciples, the apostles, He said, except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Repentance is the need
for everyone. Repent, he says, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. Repentance, the fear of the Lord,
that is, the reign and rule of the King from heaven, is the
beginning of wisdom which causes us to repent. Now, what is it
to repent? What does repent mean? Well,
basically, it means to be profoundly or sincerely sorry for what we
are. Sorry for what we are. Paul said,
I am the chief of sinners. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am. For what we are, sinners, causes
us to do what we do and to not do what we should do. To repent
is to be profoundly sorry for what we are, sinners, against
the Holy God, and for what we've done. Sinned against God. David said, Against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. He said,
You, God, are just when you speak, and you will be clear when you
judge me. He said, I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin as ever before me. Sin is against God. That's who
it is. Against. In England, and I may
have told you this before, but over in Great Britain, every
single breaking of the law is called a breach of the Queen's
peace. A breach of the Queen's peace.
Queen of England, and before her the King of England, established
and demands peace in the kingdom, in the realm of Great Britain.
Peace. And anything, even the slightest
transgression or breaking of the law, is a breach or they
have broken or disturbed peace. In other words, they're a rebel
against the king or the queen. And that's what all sin is, a
transgression of the law. It's sin against God who has,
who demands that we be in subjection to him and not disturb the peace
of his kingdom. Sin is against God. Sin is called
often trespasses. Trespasses. This is God's, God's
earth. Psalm 24 says the earth is the
Lord's. and the fullness thereof, the
world and all inhabitants thereof. It belongs to God, and all men
and women are trespassers upon this earth if they do not ask
God's permission to partake of his earth, if they do not thank
God for what he freely gives them. It's not ours by right.
We are squatters. It all belongs to God, but he
freely gives to those that ask him. We are trespassers if we
walk upon God's earth without his permission, without giving
him thanks for all things. The worst thing of all that we
need repent concerning is that God sent his Son to do what he
did. The King of Glory, the Son of
God's love and unbelief, and men and women and young people
in unbelief don't care. They just don't care that he
came. And it's only the goodness of God that leads us to repent,
the goodness of God that would turn a rebel into a submissive
son of God. He says, repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. In other words, the king is here.
The king is here, and he is gathering his subjects, making up his kingdom. And the kingdoms of this earth
are soon to be destroyed forever. There will not be one stone left
standing on another," the Lord said. Our Lord's kingdom is not
of this earth. He said that. If it were, He
would fight for it. There's no point in trying to
save so-called Mother Earth, because God's going to destroy
it. Now, I don't mean that you should abuse it, not by any means.
But yet Christ said, My kingdom is not of this earth. The kingdom
of heaven is his kingdom, and it is an everlasting dominion.
And of his reign and rule there is no end. And the king walked
upon this earth. He wasn't trying to get subjects.
He was gathering his subjects. He wasn't trying to get men and
women to believe on him. He was giving faith to his own. It takes sovereign power to break
an obstinate, hard heart, sovereign power to convince of sin, righteousness,
and judgment, and sovereign power to call out those who have sat in darkness.
And in chapter 4 of our text, it says, He went walking by the
Sea of Galilee and saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, Andrew his
brother, casting a net into the sea. They were fishers. And he
said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And he went on down a little further and saw two others, James
and John, and he called them, and they immediately left the
ship and their father and followed him. He didn't ask them, Would
you like to follow me? He didn't ask them, Would you
accept me as your personal Savior? No. Where the word of a king
is, there is power. He came calling, and he powerfully
called them, and they were drawn. as if by chord. And they followed
him. They left everything to follow
him. Because this is the King of kings calling out his subject.
And he does it with power. He does it effectually. And they
follow him. The great shepherd, his sheep,
they all follow him. Well, I pray that he might move
upon you and call you into his kingdom. It is at hand. Until
next Sunday, may the Lord bless his Word. Amen.